Chi-beria #2, Sister Black & Spanish!

Sorry this is being posted many days late. Allyse is in the middle of Chicago's 2nd deep freeze since January 1st, it is the coldest winter on record ever in Chicago, and our Hermana Allyse is in the middle of it.  We are grateful that she keeps reassuring us that her apartment is so warm and cozy that she is fine.  As you will read, they are basically under "house arrest" as she calls it for Monday and Tuesday.  If you want to read more about the deep freeze in Chicago, here are a couple of links to get the idea:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-extreme-cold-chicago-met-0127-20140127,0,3642307.story

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/world/57458069-68/minus-chicago-chills-cold.html.csp

And if you want to see some cool photos of what the super cold looks like in Chicago, here are links to those:

http://galleries.apps.chicagotribune.com/chi-ugc-weather-photos/

http://galleries.apps.chicagotribune.com/chi-winter-in-chicago-2013-photos/

Now, on to Allyse's letter...

From: Allyse Meanea
Date: Mon, Jan 27, 2014 at 11:26 AM

Hna Toney and I with a
wonderful member family

Hola a Todos! Como estan? This has been quite the week! I started on a fun new adventure with a new companion, Hermana Black. On Tuesday we went to the transfer meeting. We watched all of the new greenies get their trainers and then everyone just leaves with their new companions. It was hard to say goodbye to Hermana Toney because she has been so amazing for me and I have gotten so comfortable with how it was. But, one thing I have definitely learned on my mission is that this Gospel is a Gospel of change, so, it makes sense that we need to change companions occasionally to learn and grow. There can't be any comfort zone as a missionary! So we changed companions and then us four Hermanas went and got Hermana Whitney's (Hna Jones' new companion) luggage, ate at Subway, went shopping at Walmart, and then they took us to our apartment. We did a brief planning session and introduction to the area then went and tried to find a referral we had received. The lady we talked to had never heard of the person we supposedly had been referred the phone number didn't work so it looks like it wasn't real. We then went to the Noche de Hogar with the T.... family. We read from Genesis and then ate.

Hna Toney and I with our teaching
tool iPad Mini's wearing the PJ's
that Hna Toney's Grandma made

Wednesday we had District Meeting. After that we practiced a song because it is Missionary Sunday in our ward this week. Us 8 missionaries are singing and Hermana Black and I are speaking. The Hermanas then took us home and we had lunch and then did Facebook contacting. Next we tried to contact some people and did some tracting. We set up one appointment with a man for Saturday.

Thursday we went and contacted M.... R......., an investigator we hadn't seen for a while because her brother is really sick in the hospital. She was good, her brother is still really sick and so we set an appointment for next week. We spent most of the rest of the day in weekly planning. We then had an appointment with a less active but we she didn't' answer her phone or door. We later found out she didn't have her phone so she didn't know we were there.

Hermana Black and Hermana Meanea

Friday we had a lesson with another investigator, M.... C......... I can honestly say I took the lead in that lesson and spoke more Spanish in a lesson that I had my whole mission so far! We taught the 10 Commandments and I was even able to talk with her about her concerns about the virgin birth of Christ. It went pretty well and it felt so amazing to know that I played a big part in teaching a lesson. We then had a lesson with a recent convert/less active. I shared a scripture, Omni 1:26, and we talked with her a bit. We then tried to contact some other people but with no luck.

Saturday we went to the appointment we had made while tracting, but no one answered the door. :-(  We then went to the train station and renewed our bus passes. Next we tried some potentials but they weren't home. We then went to MCM (missionary correlation meeting).  I was a little nervous because I knew I would have to talk the whole time we were sharing our progress record because I knew the people. But, it went pretty good. We then went and saw a less active family. They were so nice and we shared a scripture with them. They are less active because they have to work on Sundays, that is a big problem here for a lot of people and it is really sad because they are so great, they just can't come to Church.

A very cold day in Chicago!

Sunday was a day I had been really nervous for because I have a hard enough time giving a talk in English, let alone Spanish! But, Church was good. We even had two investigators come to Sacrament Meeting. I gave my talk and spoke for about 10 minutes, in Spanish! I read most of my talk but I wrote it all by myself and one of our Zone Leaders said it was really good and only had a few tiny grammar mistakes! After Church we mostly did studies and worked on area book because it was honestly too cold to go out without a car and we were advised to stay inside.

I love my new companion, Hermana Black. She is so nice and we get along really well. This is definitely a new, and exciting, adventure. I know that I am going to learn and grow a lot this transfer. Thank you so much to all of you for all of your love and support! I hope you have an amazing week and don't think about our high's here in Chicago being around -18! I love you all so much!

Hermana Meanea

Dreaded Transfer Week...

Hello Everyone! How are you doing? This week was a really good week.

Hermana Meanea's
Weekly "Selfie"

On Monday night we had our Noche de Hogar with the C....... family. It was good. We read in the Book of Mormon and one of the recent convert families came so that was wonderful.

On Tuesday we walked A LOT! We went all around our area trying to find less active members that no one has seen in forever. That is a big problem with our ward. We technically have 400+ members but less than 100 attend Church. The main reason is because a ton of people will move but not tell anyone so their records just sit in our ward. That was the case with all of the people we tried. They no longer live there, but we definitely got a great workout! We also had a Noche de Hogar with the N.... family that night. It was good. They brought a non-member and we tried teaching her with the Elders that were also there. But it was pretty obvious she was just trying to discount whatever we said and didn't want to listen to us, so that was sad. But, it just isn't her time yet.

Hermana's Meanea & Toney with an investigator

Wednesday we had District Meeting and it was really good. Us four Hermanas then went to Panera Bread to eat together, potentially one last time. It was super good and fun. That night we had a lesson with R....... D....., one of Hermana Toney's recent converts. We took a member with us and it went pretty good. We went over the 10 Commandments the member was great with talking with him and reminding him of the covenants he has made. We then had a lesson with S....... and her family. Her sister was also there and we had the N......... Family come. It went really well. We also went over the 10 Commandments with them, emphasizing the importance of going to Church. They are doing pretty good but aren't able to come to Church right now so we are working on that.


Thursday we had an appointment with Hermana M, a less active. She is a really neat lady and is only less-active because she takes care of her grand kids during the week and can only work on the weekends. We talked about Heavenly Father and she opened up to us a lot about why her family isn't coming to Church so now we can start working on them. She fed us Chilaques and eggs and they were SUPER good! We then had an appointment with R...... M...., an investigator we haven't been able to meet with in a while. It went well, we taught the first part of the Plan of Salvation. Because we are expecting Hermana Toney to leave next week, she has been having me do a lot more on the phone and in lessons. It is really hard but I know it is helping me so much. The rest of the day was spent in weekly planning.

REAL Chicago Deep Dish Pizza

Friday we splurged a little bit. Hermana Toney and I went to Giordano's, the go-to place for Chicago deep dish pizza. It was super good and a fun treat. We then spent the day finishing weekly planning and working on our area book.

The Saturday before transfers is a day where all missionaries treat the cell phone like a snake. Sometime during the day you receive a text saying either: "You will NOT be receiving a transfer call," or "You WILL be receiving a transfer call." But you have no idea when it is coming. We had a lesson and lunch with an active member. She made Carnitas and they were amazing. I pretty much love all of the food I have eaten here! I was basically in charge and gave the lesson. I shared Mosiah 15:10-18 and talked about it. It really well, they are so patient with me here and have no problem correcting and helping me with my Spanish! We then went tracting for a while. It was snowing and everyone thought we were crazy! We got some good potential investigators and a few doors slammed in our faces. It was great to get out and do something so missionary-ish! Finally that night we get the text and guess what it said?!?!??!  "You will NOT be getting a transfer call"! We were shocked and so excited! But then, 5 minutes later we got a text saying: "you WILL be receiving a transfer call." What? We were so confused. But then another text came saying disregard

Hermana Meanea's exasperation
with transfer texts & calls!

everything. Apparently both of those texts had gone to the whole mission! A while later we got another one saying, "For real: You will NOT be receiving a transfer call.". Once again we were so excited. Then, a few minutes later we got another saying: "Real deal: You WILL be receiving a transfer call". At this point we just didn't know what to think. We didn't know what was happening until 9:30 that night when one of the assistants called and told us Hermana Toney was being transferred to the Chicago 5th Ward. Her new companion is Hermana Woolf, my CCM (MTC) companion. I am getting Hermana Black and everyone says she is awesome. I am so sad to be losing my "mom" but I am also super excited for this new adventure, and really nervous too!

Hermana Toney with the kids
of our investigators

Sunday we had Church and M...... and I......, some of our investigators, came with their kids so that made us so happy. We then did our studies. That night we went and visited the N........., a member family that is so incredible and who we love so much. They fed us, of course, and Hermana Toney shared a little lesson about Temples because they are working on getting sealed. She then gave her one of her nametags. This is a missionary's way of saying they will stay in contact and a sign of gratitude and love. It was really sad to watch her say goodbye to them because this family is so amazing.

It was a great week because we contacted a lot and got some great lessons. I am so sad to be losing Hermana Toney but that is the mission! I know that this will be a great new adventure and I am going to grow and stretch SO much! Thank you all for your love and support in everything! I love and miss you all so much! Have a great week and have some adventures!

Eternal Love, Hermana Allyse Meanea

Survived "Chiberia", back to missionary work...

Hello Family and Friends, before you get Allyse's letter this week, I had just wanted to share this with you...

A week ago when it was so cold in the mid-west, a guy made a 30 second video showing just how cold it was in Chicago.  It was pretty amazing to see (keep in mind you are not seeing snow in this video, that is cold air): http://videos.komando.com/watch/4816/viral-videos-chicago-is-brutally-cold-right-now

Now that it has warmed up to a balmy 24 degrees this week in Chicago, Hermana's Toney and Meanea are back on the prowl...

John

From: Allyse Meanea
Date: Mon, Jan 13, 2014 at 10:08 AM

Hello Family and Friends! We made it through "Chiberia"!!! It was soooo cold but is warming up a lot now which is nice. This week was a pretty normal week so I don't have a ton to write about but I will try!!!

Hermana Meanea on the streets of
Chicago wearing the necklace sent to her
by the Whites of her home ward.
Thank you Brother & Sister White!

Last Monday after we finished emailing and getting our shopping done we spent the rest of the night in our apartment. They even canceled the Noche for that night because it was soooo cold. Honestly I have never felt cold like that. Even being out for just a couple of minutes was just painful. It really feels like actual needles stabbing you! On Tuesday our mission president told us not to leave our apartment unless we had a car because it was still so cold and an Elder had gotten frostbite from being out for just 5 minutes! So since we share a car with some other Hermanas we mostly spent the day together going to their different appointments and working a lot on converting our huge area book to the iPads. We did have a Noche that night. It went well. We taught the Plan of Salvation with the Zone Leaders because we both had investigators there. It went well, they had questions and we were able to help them overcome some confusions they had.

Wednesday was finally a more normal of a day because it was actually above negative temperatures. We spent the day trying to find a lot of people, doing stop-by's as we call it. But, no one was really home. We were able to catch our investigators that are on date at home finally. But they were walking out the door and couldn't talk to us then. We were able to stop by a less-actives and she let us in. We had a great talk with her and shared Omni 1:26. She gave us Quesedillas - Salvadoran style. These quesedillas are nothing like Mexican quesedillas. They are a kind of sweet bread made with cheese and were really good!

Thursday is weekly planning day. Weekly planning is such a long and sometimes arduous task, but it definitely pays off when we have specific plans for the next week. We also had an appointment with an investigator. We taught her the Restoration again and she seemed to understand pretty well. We taught that with emphasis on authority because we want to try and help her understand we aren't just there for bible study which is a mindset a lot of people have out here and trap that missionaries sometimes fall into. We are there to convert them to the true and restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and we want them to realized the difference and importance of this message.

Hermana Meanea at a church building for Zone
Training, which is the same church building that
she was able to attend Sunday Services at this
past summer while visiting Chicago with her
family on vacation, but before her mission began.

Friday was great because we had Zone Training Meeting which is basically Zone Conference. President Woodbury gave a great lesson on the Brother of Jared and how it shows the cycle of the Doctrine of Christ and how we apply it to ourselves, investigators, and less actives. Just like the Brother of Jared, he taught us how we need to see the hand of the Lord in our lives.  The rest of the day we spent finishing weekly planning using our iPads to plan specifically for the people we are working with. The mission is trying to go paperless so we are trying to figure out the best way to use our iPads in planning. That night we then ventured out to find our ward mission leader because we were supposed to have MCM, missionary correlation meeting, the next day but his phone wasn't working. Because it had been raining all day and has been warmer, we actually pretty much waded to his apartment. There were huge puddles of ice water the whole way there so it was an adventure!

Saturday we had MCM.  On our way to the MCM we were waiting for the bus.  A mother and her kids walked past. So I walked up to her said hello, asked her how she was and then asked her if I could giver her a card. I gave her a pass along card and explained who we were and what we were sharing. This was all in Spanish by the way, pretty okay Spanish because I have practiced :) She then looked at me, said she was Catholic and only spoke Spanish and then walked away. Ouch! Oh well, I tried and did it all on my own! I totally got rejected but it was fine because I tried!  At the MCM we discussed the missionary work in the ward. They are trying more and more to get members involved. It is a slow progress, just like I am sure it is in your wards, but they really are trying and always encouraging everyone to support the missionaries.  We then did some more stop-by's trying to find people. We stopped by some good potential investigators and they seemed really happy to see us. They were getting ready to leave right then but said we should come back another day.

P-Day Zone Activity of Volleyball

Sunday was good. 9:00 Church is really beating up the attendance of the entire ward. It is also really hurting our investigator attendance. But, it will get better and we know that the Lord will open the way for people to make it to Church.  The rest of the day was spent in studies and area book.

I love and miss you all so much! Missionary work is not easy but that is because the Atonement was not easy for our Savior. Salvation is so precious that it takes a lot of work. But I know that everything we go through in this life is going to be more than worth it when we are able to live with our God and our Savior and our families for Eternity. I cannot comprehend how incredible that will be. But I know I want it more than anything and that I am willing to do anything it takes to get there! Have an incredible week! I love you all!

Hermana Allyse Meanea

A 20 lb. Torta + Week Long Snowstorm + Crashing a Wedding = January 6, 2014 Email!

Side note from John... Today the high temperature for Chicago was a Negative 14 degrees.  With the wind chill figured in, it would actually feel like a negative 43 degrees!  Baby it is cold out there in Chicago!!!

Now on to her letter....... John

Four Hermanas taking on downtown Chicago

From: Allyse Meanea
Date: Mon, Jan 6, 2014 at 11:05 AM

Hello Family & Friends! Happy New Year! It is 2014! This has been a pretty good, COLD, snowy week!

On Monday (last P-day) we got some shopping done and then had our Noche de Hogar (FHE). Everyone bore testimony of how their year had been and their goals for next year. I talked about how it had been a year of BIG changes and how I had made the goal to be a more consecrated missionary to the Lord. They gave Hermana Toney and I a gift. They had made us hats and scarves, it was so neat!

The next day we had a New Missionary Training Meeting. It is a meeting where all of the missionaries who have been out less than 12 weeks, and their companions, receive training. This time only half of the mission, about 100 missionaries, was involved vs 3/4 of the whole mission for the same meeting last transfer! I drove us up to the meeting (across the city). We had to leave kind of early and we drove into downtown as the sun was coming up across the lake and shining on the buildings, it was so incredibly beautiful!  The meeting was amazing! The theme was on being a consecrated missionary and I am definitely going to work laying my fear on the "altar of sacrifice" to the Lord. We then drove home. It took almost three hours! The snow was bad, the roads were bad, and we went between 5-10 mph the whole time. Back at home driving in Cedar on snow packed roads was hard enough for me. But truly a blessing from the Lord out here is that I no longer freak out driving. I actually enjoyed it and we were able to be safe.

The Missionary Skit...
Those are our ZL. It was so funny!

Our Ward knows how to throw a party!

We drove straight to the chapel and made it there about 5:45 pm, 15 minutes before the big ward New Year's Eve party was supposed to start. Of course, when you combine Mormon Standard Time and Mexicans, no one was there yet, including those in charge. We waited for quite a while, not too concerned because that was typical. Finally, after a side trip to McDonald's for fries and smoothies, people started to show up and the party got underway. It was so fun! There were games for the kids and they had a little dinner so the missionaries could eat before they had to leave. We had some investigators attend as well. The big dinner wasn't until later which is tradition. Us missionaries did
really funny skit too. It was a great night, we even had some investigators attend as well. . As we were leaving the New Years party, the ward gave each missionary companionship a present. They gave us each a HUGE 20 lb. Torta (sandwich)!!!

Hermana Toney and I with our 20 lb Torta!!!

Our ward's New Year's Eve Party

Wednesday was a little dull after such a crazy Tuesday! We had District Meeting which was good. We learned about setting goals, go figure :) We also found out our DL was getting transferred that night to be a ZL up north, so that was a little sad. One of the Elders in our Zone gave everyone Rosca. It is a Mexican tradition for New Year's. It is the pastry that has little plastic baby Jesus' baked into it. Everyone takes a piece and whoever gets the baby Jesus has to host the party the next year. We then went home and did weekly planning the rest of the day. because we were supposed to be getting a mini missionary the next day and didn't want them to have to sit through an entire day of weekly planning. We did go over to a member's house because they invited us to have Pozole for New Year's.

The snow that had fallen from Tuesday - Friday.
 It continued snowing the rest of the weekend
 so you can imagine now!

Thursday we were supposed to go and pick up our mini missionary. Mini Missionaries is a neat program they do in the mission. Youth are able to spend four days and three nights being a missionary with the full time missionaries over the Christmas break. Unfortunately our Mini Missionary canceled at the last minute, so we didn't get one. The rest of the week we spent walking and on buses because the other Hermanas had a mini missionary and we thought one of the seat belts in the car was broken so we couldn't ride anywhere with them. That day we had a lesson with one of our investigators. We talked about the 10 Commandments and it went really well. We then finished the night with weekly planning.

Friday was a VERY cold day! It was the one day this entire week that it wasn't snowing. Which, of course, meant it was super cold! We went walking and taking buses everywhere, but, no one was home or would answer. We finally got into one recent convert home and shared a message. By that point we were so cold we went home and had dinner and worked on converting our area book to the iPad.

Saturday was our "Menos Activos" day.We were able to find someone who even Hermana Toney hadn't met yet (Sister Toney has been in this area for almost 8 full months now). She was super nice and we found out she isn't even really less active because she is just gone to Mexico so much, and her husband was even a bishop there. We then rode buses to the church. There was a baptism that night for a 8 year old girl. I played the piano for part of the baptismal service.  After the baptism there was a wedding reception going on in the church for the daughter of the Stake Patriarch. They invited all of the missionaries to stop by the reception to eat (they know that missionaries will take free food whenever they can get it :). So we ate dinner at a wedding reception, it was great!

A COLD Chicago Sunset from our apartment window!
Even though I miss the mountains,
the sunsets here are amazing!

Sunday we got up and got ready to leave because our ward block meetings changed to 9:00 am. Back at home it would have been really hard to get up so early. But out here because you are up at the same time every morning no matter what, it wasn't too difficult. We left the apartment at 8:00 and waited for 45 minutes for the first bus we need to catch, in the snow and wind. It was great because everyone was looking at us like we were crazy and this one random guy tried to pick us up three times! We were then waiting for the second bus we needed to catch for a long time as well. Finally, some members on their way to church saw us and pulled over and gave us a ride to Church. It took us and hour and a half to get to church, we were 20 minutes late :) The meetings were good but of course not too many were there. The storms were so bad (another ward canceled their services) and it was early (especially for Mexicans). But testimony meeting was great. Everyone was talking about how amazing missionaries are and how the ward members need to support us. We then went home and did our studies and worked on our area book.

Today is COLD! Everyone has been talking about it. They told us to fill up our gas tanks last Saturday because if we didn't' the gasoline would freeze in the car today! Last night the Assistants texted and told us not to leave our apartments unless we had an appointment and a car! So yeah, it is cold! How exciting and what I experience! Life in Chicago as a missionary, I love it!

Thank you so much to everyone for everything that you do! This is not just work for missionaries. It is the work of the Lord and everyone plays a part! Have a wonderful week and remember how much I love you all! Be strong and safe!

Hermana Allyse Meanea

Last Email of 2013!!!

Hello Family and Friends! Can you believe it? We have almost made it through 2013! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We had a great Christmas here in Chicago.

Me at the Navy Pier

Hermana Toney and I with
the Chicago Christmas Tree
at the German Christmas Fair

Me with the CHICAGO
sign in Downtown Chicago

Recreated picture on Navy Pier,
just a little different and a lot colder
this time then it was this past summer
when I was at this spot with my family.

Last Monday after emailing, for the rest of our P-day we headed into the city. We took the trains which become the subways once you get downtown and it was so fun. The city was incredible! I fell in love instantly! It was soooooo cold but was just filled with the feeling of Christmas! We went to the German Christmas Fair. It was super neat. There were tons of little booths with people selling things from all over the world. A lot of knick-knacks and ornaments. I found one shop from Nepal that had some amazing stuff. I ended up buying a neat backpack, a yak bone bracelet and some prayer flags, all from Nepal! We also went to a shop that had Nativity Ornaments made from Olive Trees from the Holy Land and got some of those. We had crepes, Nutella and banana of course, from France. We also met some people who were LDS and they were like "Missionaries!" and said hi and wished us Merry Christmas, it was neat. We then walked to Navy Pier. As were were walking down the streets of Downtown Chicago, some people driving past rolled down their windows and yelled, "Missionaries! We are LDS too! Merry Christmas!". It was so fun! We were walking down another street and all of the sudden, someone yelled out, "Hermana Toney, Hi!". We were so confused because who in downtown Chicago knew her? It was her MTC teacher who was in Chicago for Christmas where her family lives! It was such a fun tender mercy from the Lord to see so many people down there that recognized us and wished us Merry Christmas! The Navy Pier was fun. We just walked along it, inside, and enjoyed looking at everything. At the end of the pier we ran outside just long enough, it was so cold especially on the lake with the wind, and then hurried back inside. We then got back on the trains and went home. We had a Noche de Hogar that night and two investigators came and some other non-members that a member invited, so that was great!

My neat backpack from Nepal

My neat turtle bracelet
made from yak bones in Nepal

Tuesday was a very busy Christmas Eve! We had District Meeting where we watched Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration movie. It is such a powerful movie. Afterwards Elder Johnson, our District Leader, asked a few missionaries to share their feelings and thoughts and bear testimony. The Spirit was so strong, it was wonderful! We then had a District lunch and all went to a Hibachi Grill. It was a lot of fun to be with everyone and we ate a lot of food. Us Hermanas then went to our Church building and did Facebook contacting and worked on getting our Area Books updated on the iPads. We then went to the a member's home. They invited us over for Christmas Eve Dinner. Everyone here celebrates everything Christmas on the 24th. Not much happens on the 25th. It was great, a Mexican  Christmas dinner! We then went to our investigator's house who had also invited us over for Christmas Eve dinner. We shared a Bible Video about the Savior's birth and then ate Pasole. By the end of the day, I never wanted to see food again!

Chicago Squirrels beat us to a package
of Rolo Christmas Treats from home
before we got back to our apartment!

Wednesday was a very Merry Christmas! We got up and did our studies. Then we opened our gifts. Boy were we both spoiled! It was such an incredible feeling to be encircled about by all of that love and support. After opening our gifts, we walked to a member's home to use their WiFi internet. Calling home was such a wonderful experience. I got to talk to and see my amazing family and hear their voices! After being online with my family for forty minutes it was really hard to hang up.  But I was able to do it because I know that we receive blessings for being obedient. The family that let us use their internet, had some food they made for us. They were such a tender mercy from the Lord. After I hung up I was, of course, pretty sad, so was Hermana Toney. But, the mom hugged me and cried with me. After that, the entire rest of the day, I felt joyful and peaceful inside. It was such a blessing from our loving Heavenly Father! We went home and had lunch and then went out caroling with the other missionaries in our ward. It was the perfect end to a Missionary Christmas!

Our Christmas morning
after an Elf came in the night!

Me and my Christmas blessings

Me in my Christmas Pajamas
that Hna Toney's Grandma
made for me!

Thursday was right back to work. It was a weekly planning day. Weekly planning pretty much takes all day. But it is good because now we have good plans for next week.

Friday was a very busy day and we had the car and were able to get a lot done. We saw some less-actives and also found an investigator that we hadn't been able to contact for several weeks. We talked with her and she mentioned she needed help setting up Skype on her

Our district on Christmas Eve

computer so she could talk with family in Mexico. So we helped her with that and it was quite and undertaking because everything was in Spanish! 

Saturday we had MCM, Missionary Correlation Meeting, with our ward mission leader. We also were finally able to catch our investigators who were supposed to have been baptized that day at home. They hadn't answered our calls or been home when we tried to stop by. We were able to go in and teach them el Evangelio, The Gospel of Jesus Christ. We talked with them about their baptisms. Their daughter turns 8 on January 21 so now we are going to wait until then so the mother, son, and daughter can all be baptized together. It will be for the better so that we can make sure they are prepared. We also had a lesson with some other investigators. It went really well. We really talked with them and helped them feel comfortable. We taught the Restoration again and they asked questions and seemed to understand better.

Us with some investigators and members
(not a great picture)

Sunday was great. Church was good. Two of our investigators showed up so that always makes us happy. The others who we met with the night before, and they had said they were coming, didn't come which made us sad. We tried to stop by them again but they weren't home. So we will just have to continue trying with them.

At our Christmas activity last week with President Woodbury, he gave us each a new copy of the Book of Mormon, a highlighter, and a challenge. He asked us to read the entire Book of Mormon, highlighting each mention of Jesus Christ and the Atonement (in different colors) before April General Conference. He promised us that we would become better people and better missionaries, also that we would receive revelation in conference. I want to extend this same challenge to all of you. Already as I have been doing this, I have noticed my reading is more focused as I am searching for these things. Also, I am thinking so much more about the Savior and the Atonement in my life. I invite all of you to join me in this. I know we will receive blessings and come closer to our Savior.

In one of my new Christmas outfits!

It was another busy, crazy week! I love being a missionary and it such an amazing time to be out here! Thank you all so much for your love and support of me and my family! My Spanish is getting better all the time and I am loving the people and the area. Yo se que esta Iglesia es verdadera. Somos hijos de nuestro Padre Celestial y El nos ama mucho! El Evangelio nos da mucho gozo y paz en nuestras vidas. Cuando seguimos el ejemplo de Jesucristo y aplicamos su Expiacion, podemos supercar todas cosas. I love you all so much! Happy New Year! 

Prospero Ano Nuevo!

Eternal Love,

Hermana Allyse Meanea

Merry Christmas from Chicago!!!

My Mom required weekly selfie

Hello Dear Family and Friends!

Can you all believe it is Christmas? It seems like just yesterday that I started on this incredible adventure. At the same time it seems like it has been years though! Isn't it funny how time can mess like that? This was a crazy and busy week, the life of a missionary!

On Monday at our Noche de Hogar we had Chicharron, that is fried pig skin.  It was interesting but pretty good. Also, one of the Hermanas who is the Relief Society President, asked for ideas on what to feed the sisters of the ward for the activity on Wednesday. I remembered an email from my Mom of how they did baked potatoes as a part of the ward Christmas Dinner back home. We explained it to her in broken Spanish and English and she thought it was a very different and interesting idea.

Tuesday and Wednesday were big walking days because our bus passes expired and we had to wait for Hermana Toney to get some more money on her church debit card to be able to buy bus passes again. On Tuesday we had a lesson scheduled at the Church with one of the couples we have on date for baptism. Unfortunately, they never showed up. They didn't answer their phones and didn't say why, which is really unlike them. It was really sad but that just happens sometimes. That night we had the Noche de Hogar and one of our investigator families hosted it. We taught the Plan of Salvation with the Zone Leaders. There was a lot of people there and it went pretty well, they had a lot of questions which we love. They made Tinga! It was so good!

Hermana's Meanea & Toney
at the Chicago Temple

That night we had exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders. Hermana Savage came down to our area and stayed with me. I was really nervous for this because it meant that I was in charge of the area! But Wednesday went really good. We contacted a lot of people! We also were able to find a Lost Sheep, an investigator that dropped off of the map, and teach her! She was very humble and accepting. I invited her to be baptized! She said yes but wants to talk to her husband about the date first. We then went to a Relief Society activity at the Church. Guess what? They tried the baked potato thing! They didn't understand it all, but they sure tried! Everyone was like, "I have never had a papa (potato) like this before!" It was so fun to see. Also, one of our less actives who is coming back really well was there and she gave us each a Christmas gift! It was some chocolate and earrings! She is so sweet! We then exchanged back to our companionships.

Hermana Meanea at the Chicago Temple

The Chicago Midway Zone
at the Chicago Temple

Thursday was our Christmas party at the Mission Home and our Temple Session. The mission home was so fun. We had some lessons from President and Sister Woodbury, sang Christmas Carols, and had a White Elephant exchange. We then went to the Temple. It was so wonderful. peaceful and beautiful, I love it! We then went home. All of that is in Wilmette (north of Chicago) which takes around and hour of driving, without traffic, through Downtown Chicago to get to. I drove the whole way, there and back, rush hour each way! If you know me, you know what a huge accomplishment that is! Coming back traffic was really bad, it took about 3 hours to get home. But I loved it! I am now an official Chicago driver!

The Chicago Midway Ward Missionaries
at the Ward Christmas Party

Friday I got to use my graphic design skills! Who knew that they would be useful out here on a mission? Our Zone Leaders asked us to design invitations for the ward party the next day. So I used the computers in the library and designed a little thing. It was so neat to use one of my talents as a missionary! We then went Caroling and it was such a neat experience. It brought joy and the Christmas Spirit to so many, including myself.

Saturday we had a lesson with the lost sheep I found earlier while on exchanges. It went really good and she is progressing well. That night we had our ward Christmas party. They had a Pastorela, a play about the story of Jesus' birth. It was so cute and funny. We had some investigators come and they enjoyed it too. It was such a fun night. Everyone here is so loving and kind, especially to us missionaries!

Sunday was a little sad because no one, investigators or less actives, came to Church :-(  That is OK though because we will continue to work with them and help them understand the incredible blessings that come from this Gospel!

When I run with my Ragnar team, we always take a
photo of just the girls on the team and call it
"Girl Power". This picture is similar, except it is
"Sister Missionary Power"!

It was a great, busy, fast, crazy week! It is so incredible to be a missionary during the Christmas season! I am so grateful to be serving during this season, even though it is really hard! People are more focused on Christ right now and so being able to share that message of hope and joy with others makes this a very special Christmas! I know that what we are sharing is so important and will help people so much! Yo se que esta iglesia es verdadera con toda de mi Corazon! Jesucristo es nuestro Salvador y El entiende todos desafios que tenemos. Somos hijos de Nuestro Padre Celestial y El nos ama mucho! I love you all so incredibly much! Thank you for all that you do! Let the Spirit of CHRISTmas into your hearts and I know it will help us through all things! Feliz Navidad!

Eternal Love,

Hermana Allyse Meanea

Let it Snow, Chicago Style!!!

Hello Everyone! Isn't this just such a wonderful time of year? It just has such an excitement about it. It is finally winter here in Chicago. It snows every few days and the high is typically around 6 degrees! I LOVE it! I am Chicago, IL at Christmas time, sharing the knowledge and joy of the Restored Gospel with everyone that I possibly can!

Real Christmas Tree from Utah in a box!

Monday I got a wonderful package at my apartment! A beautiful Christmas tree, a REAL one! We decorated it and it brightens up our apartment so much! We also went to a discount mall. It is a huge building with a ton of little Mexican shops. You could find anything there! it was really fun and we even ended up teaching a lesson to one of the shop owners who asked us about polygamy! We also had a Noche de Hogar and I am finding myself able to talk and interact more and more!

Tuesday was a good day. We went looking for a referral but didn't find him because he gave us an address that doesn't exist. :) Instead we visited a family we had found tracting a couple weeks ago. This time the Dad was there. We started to explain who we were and he was like, "Yeah, I know. I am a Mormon." With out jaws on the floor, we were like, "Uhhhh. What?!?!?!?". Appearantly he was baptized when he was 8 in Mexico but he stopped going to Church when he was 11 or 12. So this family that had invited us in to teach the Restoration a couple weeks ago has a dad who is a long lost member! Right now he says they are more interested in being Christian, not Mormon. We explained we are Christian and just want to add to his faith. We will definitely be working with them!

The Real Christmas Tree decorated up

Wednesday we went tracting and it was COLD! But, it was good. The only problem is that no one really wants to open their doors and listen to you give "your spill". But that is OK, we are showing our diligence and obedience and know we will be blessed, even if it isn't necessarily by having people there right then to listen to us. We went to Institute that night at the Church because hopefully we were going to have some investigators there. But, no one ever showed up for the class. So, I was able to use the time to practice the piano. Because Hermana Felt is no longer in our ward, she did pretty much all of the playing for the ward, I realized that I might need to play occasionally!

Thursday was a great day because they released an update for our Area Book app on the iPad and now we are able to sync our data again so that we can see what each other has been working on. I was also able to practice the piano some more. We went tracting a little later. At the first house we knocked they practically dragged us inside. We ended up giving a hour and a half lesson to them! They were pretty interested. The only problem is that they left for Mexico the next day and won't be back until January 3.

Friday we had a lunch appointment with a member. She is from Cuba and made us a TON of really good Cuban food. We then went and saw one of our investigators that is on date. She is doing well and we were able to talk about a number of things, including the Law of Chastity. She actually took it really well and agreed to live it but needs to talk with her boyfriend first. We also stopped by some investigators that we lost track of because they went on vacation for over 6 weeks, I hadn't even met them yet! The husband basically told us that they weren't going to come to Church anymore and they dropped us. It was really sad. But, I understand that is just wasn't their time yet. How long their teaching record is though will definitely be a flag to missionaries in the future to teach them.

Let it snow! (again...)

Saturday it snowed a ton, several inches all day. So, we shoveled our walks and steps. It was neat and nice to have a little break from studies to serve others. We were able to go caroling with the 6 other missionaries in our ward. It was so much fun and really brought the Christmas Spirit, I loved it! We also went to a Neurotics Anonymous meeting. Now before you all get confused and worried, let me explain. A member invited us because it was her anniversary there, she is a really good missionary, and she said it would be a free dinner. So we went to support her. It really was like the scene from Finding Nemo, except in Spanish! "Hi my name is______. I am a ______" and then everyone responds, "Hi_____"!!! When we walked in we had to say, "Hi, I am Hermana Meanea/Toney" and everyone said "Hi Hermana Meanea/Toney"! It was quite an experience, but it was good food. :-)

Winter Sunset in Chicago

Sunday was a very busy, crazy day! Church was good. Our 4 investigators came, so that is great! I ended up playing the piano in Relief Society, Sunday School, and the Sacrament Hymn in Sacrament Meeting! I was scared to death and it wasn't incredible, but I was able to do it and everyone appreciated it. The Hermana that we went to the meeting for last night told us this morning that she had set up an appointment at 5:00 with some of the people from last night. So we went there and taught the Restoration. It went pretty well and they accepted the invitation to be baptized on the third Saturday in January! So that was wonderful!

Overall it was a very good week. I am loving being out here and being a missionary! It is hard sometimes, but the Lord is always there. Yo se que esta Iglesia es verdadera! Jose Smith fue llamado por Dios ser un profeta y restauro el Evangelio. Nosotros somos hijos de Dios y El nos ama mucho! Jesucristo fue nacio y fue un ejemplo perfecto por nosotros. El es nuestro Salvador.  I love you all so much and cannot thank you enough for EVERYTHING you all do for me and my family! I hope you have a wonderful week! Bye!!!